I Tripped
by purplerayz
Summary: Reid wasn't sure when or how he was left alone with the five-year-old, but he was certain this wasn't going to play out very well... for once, Reid was wrong.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds or its characters.**

**Just a one-shot I couldn't get out of my head. I had originally planned to make it more humorous, but this is how it turned out in the end. I like this too, though.**

**I appreciate reviews and comments!**

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Reid sighed heavily as he leaned his head back on the couch and closed his eyes. He was grateful for the current quietness that surrounded him. His left leg was propped up on the coffee table in front of the couch. Crutches were leaning against the arm of the couch next to him. At this point, Reid was beginning to despise those things. He'd finally gotten rid of them only a few months ago from the gunshot injury to his knee, and he was already back to using them.

He heard a soft noise to his right. He thought everyone had left the room, but realized someone could have easily come back in. He opened his eyes and looked around the living room, but found no one. He was probably just hearing things or just wasn't used to the noises of the unfamiliar surroundings. He was sitting alone in Hotch's living room. Hotch had deciding to invite everyone over for supper and show them the new place he had just moved into so he and Jack had more room. Plus, Hotch didn't say this, but they all knew his old apartment didn't allow for the best of memories.

Hotch was giving a quick tour to the rest of the team right now, but Reid had opted to just sit on the couch and wait. His knee was sore, and he didn't feel like moving much. He was also quite certain the _real_ reason for this gathering was an effort to cheer him up after he re-injured his knee during the last case.

Reid heard the soft noise again, and this time when he looked, he spotted the young eyes of Jack Hotchner peeking over the arm of the couch on the opposite end. He could see Jack's hands on the arm as well. Reid wasn't sure when or how he was left alone with the five-year-old, but he was certain this wasn't going to play out very well.

Reid was unsure how to act around the child. Sure, he had been around Jack before, but never alone. He may be an expert on a lot of things, but dealing with little kids was definitely not one of them. For some reason, Jack was acting much shyer than Reid had seen earlier. Deciding to go out on a limb, Reid smiled at Jack.

"Hi, Jack."

"Hi," Jack responded quietly without moving from his position. After watching Reid for another minute, Jack finally moved and sat on the other end of the couch, staring down at the floor. He sat on the edge of the couch with his legs dangling back and forth, making small thumping noises as his heels hit the front of the couch.

Reid watched Jack carefully. The kid was obviously itching to ask him something, but he was holding back. "Are you okay, Jack?" Reid finally asked. Jack turned at the sound of Reid's voice, first looking at Reid and then eyeing his propped-up leg and his crutches. Reid suddenly realized exactly what was on Jack's mind.

"I'm okay, Jack," Reid assured him. "My knee just got banged up a little."

Jack didn't exactly seem reassured, and a moment later, Reid understood why. "Did a bad guy hurted you?" Jack asked. "Like when Daddy got hurt?"

Reid's heart dropped when he saw the sadness in Jack's eyes. "No," Reid lied. "I tripped and hurt my knee." It was partially true. The 'bad guy' had been the reason he 'tripped' and re-injured his knee, but he wasn't going to tell Jack that.

Jack scooted closer to Reid to the middle of the couch, seemingly more comfortable with him. "What happened to your face?" He asked curiously.

"Oh," Reid responded, having forgotten about the cut on the side of his forehead, which had a couple strips of butterfly tape on it, and the slight bruise on his cheek. "That happened when I tripped, too." Again, it was partially true.

"Why did you trip?" Jack asked, clearly much less shy (and more outspoken) now. "I trip lots, but my daddy says it's 'cause I get too 'cited and my feets move too fast. Did you get too 'cited?"

Reid chuckled softly. "No. I was just a little clumsy."

Now that was a complete lie. Not that he wasn't clumsy sometimes, but his clumsiness had no play in his injury this time. The unsub had caught him by surprise while they were searching for him in his house. He had somehow snuck up on him from behind, and Reid had noticed and turned around just as something was swinging towards his head, hence the cut on his forehead. He hadn't been knocked out, but he had fallen to the floor and had lost his gun.

Somewhere in the ensuing scuffle, his knee had twisted the wrong way, throwing at least a month's worth of physical therapy down the drain. Thankfully, the others hadn't been too far away and quickly came to his aid. The unsub was now sitting in jail where he belonged. Reid had to lean on Morgan on the way out of the house and had earned himself a trip to the hospital, where he was forced back onto crutches.

"Daddy says I'm clumsy, too," Jack responded. "He said I'd grow out of it. Didn't you grow out of it?"

And there it was. The question was completely innocent coming from Jack, but Reid suddenly felt the normal awkwardness he felt around little kids. The conversation had for once been going well with a kid. They always ended up saying something or asking something that made him feel awkward around them. He had no idea how to respond to that, but thankfully, he didn't have to, because Jack continued talking.

"How come they left you all alone? It's not nice to leave people out."

"They didn't leave me here. I wanted to stay here," Reid answered. Though it was true, he still would have liked to be with the rest of the team. He had been so happy when he wasn't being left behind at police stations anymore because of his crutches or his cane, but now he was going to have to go through that again for who knew how long.

"Oh," Jack responded. Without another word, he got up off the couch and ran into the hallway with the energy that only a little kid could have, and he disappeared from sight.

Great, Reid sighed. Now he'd gone and scared the kid off. Maybe his luck with children hadn't actually improved. But a minute later, Jack returned with something in his hands. He climbed back up on the couch to previous spot, though this time, slightly closer to Reid.

"What's that?" Reid asked.

"A coloring book," Jack answered as he reached for the small box of crayons he brought with. "Pick a color."

"Purple," Reid decided to go along with whatever Jack was doing.

Jack took out the purple crayon and handed it to Reid before reaching for the blue one. Jack scooted closer to Reid so he was right next to him. He opened the coloring book and placed it so half of it was on his own lap and half of it was on Reid's.

"You want me to color with you?" Reid asked, slightly shocked.

Jack nodded. "You're sad."

This shocked Reid even more. "Wh-what?" he asked cautiously.

"You're sad," Jack repeated with knowledge in his voice that seemed beyond his age. "When Daddy's sad, I color with him, and it makes him happy."

Jack started coloring on his side of the book, while Reid just sat in shock for a moment. It didn't really surprise him that Hotch would be sad sometimes, but it did surprise him that Jack seemed to pick up on it pretty easily. Reid doubted coloring would cheer him up right now, but he decided it would at least make Jack feel better, so he began to color with him.

Reid didn't really notice that his mood was improving slightly, and for once, Reid was wrong. This had played out very well in the end, much better than he would have ever expected when there was a little kid involved. Reid also didn't notice the two of them had gained an audience in the doorway behind them.

"How long were we gone?" JJ whispered.

"I thought it was only five minutes, but my watch could be broken," Rossi answered.

"What happened to the "Reid effect"?" Garcia asked.

"I don't know," Prentiss replied seriously. "Neither of them looks uncomfortable."

"And Reid actually looks happy," Morgan commented. "I don't think I've seen him smile since he re-injured his knee the other day."

"Yeah," Hotch said as he joined the small group, smiling slightly. "Jack is pretty good at cheering people up."


End file.
